Queen of the Hebrides - 18-year-old Laphroaig

The Queen of the Hebrides is the first bottling released under the Old Particular Consortium of Cards Single Cask Scotch Whisky Collection.

Four releases are planned for 2017, beginning with Queen of the Hebrides – an 18-year-old Old Particular Laphroaig.

Bottled from a single refill butt at 50% abv, just 665 bottles of Queen of the Hebrides are available.

Fred Laing, managing director of Douglas Laing, describes the new offering as “richly peated barley on the nose with a tarry, ashy palate and a finish full of chimney soot”.

Each bottle displays a specially commissioned Queen of the Hebrides illustration.

This quarter, Douglas Laing will release 15 single cask malts and five single cask grains under the Old Particular label.

The single malt contingent delivers “aged and rare” bottlings from Speyside, the Highlands and Islay.

The quintet of single grain bottlings includes a 25-year-old Cameronbridge, described as “bread and butter pudding, exotic spices and juicy red apples”.

Also in the range is Old Particular Glen Grant 21 Years Old that promises “cinnamon apple pie, vanilla cream and spicy oak”, and a Bruichladdich 11 Years Old charged from a Sherry hogshead that boasts a “big PX Sherry hit”.

Old Particular, a series of hand-selected aged single casks from all over Scotland, originally launched in 2013.

The range is available from specialist Scotch whisky retailers globally.